“In order to achieve its internal goal of shipping 40 million iPad products in 2011, Apple has occupied close to 60% of the global touch panel capacity causing tight supply among Apple’s competitors, according to sources from upstream component makers,” Yenting Chen, Rebecca Kuo, and Joseph Tsai report for DigiTimes.
“Sources from tablet PC makers also pointed out that the component shortage is causing their shipment volumes to be unable to catch up with their orders, especially for second-tier players,” Chen, Kuo, and Tsai report. “Touch panels are currently suffering the most serious shortage due to Apple holding control over the capacity of major touch panel makers such as Wintek and TPK, and with US-based RIM, Motorola and Hewlett-Packard also competing for related components, second-tier players are already out of the game, the sources noted.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]